At a time when Indiana’s poverty rate continues to rise even as the national rate is declining, community awareness about this difficult issue becomes more important.

In spring 2007, 10 Ball State students pushed aside their initial misperceptions to examine the issue of poverty and tried to build on community momentum to address the issue in Delaware County.

Working with the nonprofit TEAMwork for Quality Living, students in the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry seminar “Voice and Vision: Poverty from the Inside Out” got to know people who live with poverty every day. They heard their stories and witnessed the harsh realities of life on the streets. A simulation exercise showed them what it’s like to try to survive from month to month on a limited income.

From their experiences, the students produced a series of radio programs about the lives of poor and homeless people in Delaware County, which aired on Indiana Public Radio.

“We were able to speak to people, give them a voice, see what their vision is, and give them a medium through radio to express those concerns,” says Jennifer Strempka, a senior public relations and communications studies major.

For Eva Zygmunt-Fillwalk, assistant professor of elementary education and leader of the immersive learning seminar, one of the most meaningful outcomes of the seminar was the change she noticed in her students.

“They have not just learned about the community in Muncie,” she says. “They have become a part of that community.”